SUCCESS STORIES IN THEIR OWN WORDS

SUCCESS STORIES IN THEIR OWN WORDS

S1E1

ROBERT FIVEASH & DANNY ROSIN

"PIVOTING OUT OF COVID-19"

Marshall Atkinson A lot of revenue streams have dried up due to the COVID-19 situation. Many businesses have been forced to pivot into a new direction. Today, we are going to discover how one company has found success with new opportunities. We'll be talking about this with Danny Rosin and Robert Fiveash with Brand Fuel. They're the leaders of a free-spirited brand merchandising agency that delivers experiences, e-commerce, inspiration, and results all while having fun along the way. So grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and let's dig into how they're having success in these turbulent times. Danny and Robert. Welcome to the show! Robert Fiveash Thanks for having us, Marshall. Marshall Atkinson All right, you ready to dig in? Let's get going. Robert Fiveash Giddy up.

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Marshall Atkinson Right. So first off, I want to talk about Brand Fuel, just to give some background on your business. So let's describe your partnership, unique viewpoint, and what you are known for best. Danny Rosin Yeah, I'll start with the origin story. It started a little bit before Robert and I connected. And I think like so many others, it started when I was in college. My parents taught me a lesson about having to cover my out-of-state college tuition while I went to UNC-Chapel Hill. And I think if you look really far back, you can say that my love for that university and my hatred for the university right down the road, Duke university, manifested itself in what Brand Fuel is today, to some extent. But, because I had to cover the college tuition gap, I was out selling anti-Duke t-shirts door to door at basketball games and you know, running from campus security. Building a little salesforce, navigating design, juggling all the inventory, and crazy that we all know about in this industry. I never paid taxes. I never got my designs licensed by UNC. I don't think I knew any better. And, if I did, I, I might not have done that anyway. But, many of the designs that I was selling door to door were probably too raunchy to get approved by the university anyway. And as a side note, they were so bad that someone told me once I had a built-in repeat order system because students' moms would throw their t-shirts away when they came home for breaks and they come back and buy another one. Anyway, a local printer named Odie Campbell, just a great guy, long hair warmed-over flower child type of guy taught me a lot about the culture, design, and the amazing craft of printing, which I learned when I was working with him after college. So that was my first job. I started selling to college markets and then into corporations and the corporate markets and Odie and I grew the business a lot. But, my ambition, I think got the best and the worst of me. And after eight years, it became time to have a, what a lot of people would say is an entrepreneurial seizure. You know, do my own thing, take the high road and leave the company I worked with and help build-up. You know, adhere to the non-compete, leaving a lot of client relationships behind, which was very hard. And I knew I couldn't go it alone successfully. I desperately needed someone who had a better grasp of finance and operations but also had a really keen eye on sales and marketing. And Robert was that guy on so many levels. I had just graduated from business school and sort of looking back at our friendship and where we are now, we have a very lucky -- a yin-yang kind of relationship. You know, Ben and Jerry's, Keith and Mick. You know, we've got a rocket as a logo, so Orville and Wilbur come to mind. Our best partnership comparison is probably, Pat Roberson and Mike Cooley. Robert's favorite band. The Drive-By Truckers is a reference there.

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But, after 38 years of friendship and 22 years of those in business together, I'm proud and humbled to say we're still at it and that it's not always easy, but, the history, the love, the respect is very deep-rooted. And together we set out to be renegades in this commoditized space with a really talented staff who will help us carry the brand into the world with integrity, creativity, hard work, deep knowledge, and, like you said earlier, having some fun along the way. And ultimately we found that. With mystery comes margin. And so doing things differently, takes a lot of work and it's worth it even when we try and we fail. And I think Robert's going to talk a little bit about that... Robert Fiveash Man, Danny. That was good. That was very good. Taken me back. Well, Marshall, I wanted to talk just a minute about, sort of our USP and what we're sort of known for today. Danny did a fantastic job of a bit of the background. And a lot of that DNA is still with us, whether it's art and music or making sure we're having fun with our employees. You know, I want to point to an early example of something that's kind of stuck with us for the last 22 years. We, in 1999, had the opportunity. We started in '98 and '99. We had the opportunity to build an online store for one of the largest local companies, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. And, we did not know what we're doing. We knew that we needed technology for this. We knew it was going to be expensive and we knew the value of an online store. We knew that that was kind of the future of promo in so many ways. Certainly, you know, for what we were looking to do. And, we built this thing 20 years ago. It probably cost us, what Danny $60,000 or so at the time. Yeah. I mean, this was a lot of money for us as a brand new company. The same software today, if it existed with, you know, it'd be $15 a month or something. I mean, it's ubiquitous now, but it was a real lesson for us that we still sort of a life today. And that was investing in technology and making sure that our clients understand that we're as much a technology company as a creative branding company. And so, you know, I think the things that we are most known for would be the creativity and the creative services that we provide. But also the fact that we're a technology company and that's huge for us. Our online store is kind of the beating heart of our operations. And so a lot of the creative services that we have, you know, whether it's virtual swag or kitting or, or survey fuel or any of these things that we've come up with over the years to broaden our scope, all of these things run through the online store and it's part of what we do and it's part of what our clients expect of us. So, that is the story there. Marshall Atkinson So in reality, I guess the way to put it is that through the years you have built your process, right? So that's consistent, it's predictable, it's repeatable. It's the backbone of your company. And, and that is your online store. Would you say that's a fair statement?

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Robert Fiveash I would say that's a fair statement.

It's something that's -- it's a department that, we have had to invest in throughout. We probably have more people working in the online store department today than we ever have. We've got real professionals that run it rather than, you know, the two of us trying to be at the helm as people who appreciate the technology that is technologists. We've brought in folks that actually understand the technology and that's been a game- changer for us. Marshall Atkinson So, over the years, what's been your biggest struggle with that? Robert Fiveash Oh gosh. Well, I mean, Danny stepped in at any time, but I would say that the biggest challenge is not the technology piece. It's understanding which opportunities are real. So, you know, we have really good SEO and we've got folks. Probably two, three, four, or five times a week asking us about our online store services. It's actually really impressive where we're lucky to have it. And so, we have lots of opportunities every week. And the biggest challenge, I think I would say Danny, is vetting these in a way that doesn't preoccupy our time with opportunities that might look good on paper, but once you get to the nuts and bolts, it's potentially, several weeks or a month of wasted time where it seemed like a $100, $300, $500,000 opportunity. But at the end of the day, it was, you know, potentially a misunderstanding and then we've all, you know, we've all spent the time to try to vet these folks. I think that's probably the biggest challenge of the online store department. It's certainly not the technology piece. I guess the second biggest challenge would be the international aspect of it. And that's something that we're really trying to put some focus on. I mean, it's something that's a challenge for every company that does international fulfillment, but, it is something that we've, to be honest with you, we've lost business over, you know, we've had situations with great local clients where we've done pretty much everything perfectly for them. And then we can't manage the international piece of it. So, I don't think we're that different than other folks that do this. I think any company that is telling you that they can get a product, you know, apparel or what have you from the US to Europe without extra expense or extra stress is probably not really telling you the truth; but it is something that we're putting a lot of focus on today. Marshall Atkinson Okay. And what's really unique -- and Danny helped me out here. You guys operate in two completely different states, right? Danny Rosin We do. We do. And we've actually got five locations and even operations in the UK right now. So that's helping us with that challenge Robert mentioned. So, you know, that made this whole COVID thing a lot easier because we're so used to working remotely and trying to get our teams together. But yeah, Robert and I started out in the office together which was amazing and sometimes hard. But I think, you know, this virtual world that we're living in right now, we've actually -- before COVID happened, he and I would be online, in the virtual world, doing Teams or Zoom, everyday as if we were in each others office like we were when we started the business.

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Robert's probably caught me picking my nose a couple of times. But, you know, I've watched him eat a sandwich not so gracefully. So there are trade-offs. Marshall Atkinson That's great. So, this is a good segue into my next question, which is it's really a 'before and after' time. So, talk about where things stood pre-pandemic and where things are heading now. What is working best for you guys currently? Robert Fiveash Well, Marshall, I'll give a quick description of how things were before. And I don't know whether we were that different frommost companies in this industry. Things were just booming, you know, before March 15th. Everything looked fantastic from our perspective. Like I mentioned, the SEO, we had kind of perfected that, tweaked it, and we're getting an enormous number of these leads that were -- and we were having great success and turning into opportunities. Our best sales year by far. We'd been up probably 20% per year for the last three or four years, very little turnover, I think our average employee at I think 11 years of tenure with us. And that was just fantastic on so many levels, really, really good growth, and really fantastic opportunities. Probably the biggest move we made in the last, leading up to COVID was opening an office in -- Danny, mentioned one in London and one in Boston and all of those opportunities were just full tilt, and March 15th happened. And, here we are. Danny Rosin Yeah. And I guess I'll sort of take it from there. Robert and I were talking about this, sort of what 'was', which was what Robert talked about, and the 'is' which is right now. And I think the 'will be', and while we don't have a crystal ball, I mean, sort of giving a little insight on to that as well. But, I, you know, at times right now, the 'is' part of this question, Marshall, it's admittedly really challenging. I just think we would want to be honest and let people know that we're struggling in a lot of ways at the same time. We're having some big wins as well. I think we're having those wins. We've had some of our largest orders in our history, during this time. Some are PPE-related and some that are non-PPE-related. So, like many companies, we wonder how sustainable PPE is, and we're doing everything we can to triple down on non- PPE sales because we're not sure that will be sustainable. But we've also had these just, I would say, too many goose egg sales days, along the way. So it's just a roller coaster of emotions and our sales numbers as far as book numbers every day as we track it like that. It's just, an up and down kind of thing. Our margins have slipped. I think some of that is because we did really, we did the right thing in regards to offering some discounts on PPE and do the right thing as a company early on. But interestingly year over year, we're in pretty good shape. You know, we're well-capitalized. We had a really good first quarter, so we're not down that far year -- down that much year over year. But we're just not sure what the horizons look like for us and the rest of the industry.

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Robert mentioned employees and you know, the 11-year average tenure which I think we're most proud of. I think we're also proud that today we haven't had any layoffs. You know, we've got a lot of people that are really counting on us and we're counting on them. So we're working really hard to try and do the right thing in regard to taking care of employees and trying to keep them on the rocket ship so to speak. And they're just such a great group of people -- they're committed. And I think they're the ones that are gonna help us get through this. And then I think the last part of this is the 'will be' and you know, I think re-imagining what Brand Fuel will look like in the coming years. And we can touch on that a little bit later specifically, but... We're trying to empower our teams to drive the change a bit which helps with buy-in. And how that works is us asking them what they want to see out of the company, what their ideas are, what they think we should be, and how we should sell this product once, you know, we get out of this and while we're in it as well. So it stays bottom-up versus top-down approach, Robert mentioned before. And then the last thing I think we're really relying on partnerships a lot more. I think when we got into the industry, I realized it's a very territorial type of industry and people were very protective of sales and what they were selling to their clients. One of the things that we all do on this call is we help with PromoKitchen and in leadership roles in the boardroom there. That organization is about uplifting the industry as a nonprofit that's doing good for the industry by sharing best practices. And Robert and I have had the good fortune to start another organization called Reciprocity Road, which is a buying collective of nine companies, $200 million in spending. And also, we are the United States representative for the International Partnerships for Premiums and Gifts, which is IPPAG for short and those communities: PromoKitchen, IPPAG, Reciprocity Road, even PPAI and ASI. There are communities now where we can look to each other to help and grow our way out of this. Marshall Atkinson I liked that a lot, and I'm a big proponent of the phrase: “The most human company wins” and it's just about seeing people and opportunities as a person. Like a human level, instead of that corporate speak, you know what I'm saying? Danny Rosin Truth, love it. Robert Fiveash Marshall on that note, you know, one of the things that we did on the human level that I just wanted to mention, I think it's a good time to mention it. We -- I guess standing what, three or four years ago, when the tragic shooting in Vegas. When, when was that specifically? Was that three years ago? Danny Rosin I think it was 2018 fall, 2018, maybe.

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Robert Fiveash Okay. So maybe, maybe not quite three years ago. But it really touched us in a lot of ways. And, we wanted to do something with our team because they were traumatized by it as well. It was obviously at a concert at a music event and just a tragic evening, and we wanted to use apparel to kind of make a statement about that and how music is -- music can't be taken off, it can't be put down, and it can't be silenced. And so we created something called the Band Fuel, rather than a Brand Fuel, but Band Fuel project. And what we did was we had all of our employees. I think, Danny, howmany of us? There 25 or 30 folks at the time actually participated. We took short one, two-minute videos of our employees, and their favorite band tee and a t-shirt. And they described what the artist that was on the t-shirt meant to them. And I will say it was one of the, probably the most meaningful things that I participated in, at Brand Fuel. And I don't know how many, you know, these things -- none of these things actually went viral or anything, but that wasn't the purpose. I mean, the purpose was for us to express, the power of music on our medium: on t-shirts. And it really, really was a fantastic project. And I would encourage anybody who might be interested in seeing how to pull something like this off, check out the Band Fuel project on our website. Really, really was meaningful to all of us. Marshall Atkinson I love that. I love that. And you know, t-shirts, I think really kind of dig into people's memories. And that's the reason why a lot of people get a shirt when they go to a concert or they order a shirt from the band's website is because they want to show that they're aligned with that emotional link to the music. And I really love that for all those reasons you suggested. So that was great. Many typical customer challenges that you have had a history of solvingmight be changing. So what do you see as new areas of opportunity and what is driving that new success? Robert Fiveash Gosh. Well, I think, you know, one of the biggest challenges that we've always had and it exists in pre-COVID and post-COVID, is the fact that some of the products that we sell in this industry ends up in the landfill. And, I don't know Danny is it Jamie Mera was the originator of “brandfill”? So let's give him credit for that. But, Marshall, “brandfill” obviously is the negative side of what we do that, a portion of what we sell ends up in the landfill. And I think, you know, as we move into an environment where clients potentially have less to spend because there's so much uncertainty out there; they are even more in tune with ROI and they're even more into with the fact that the product that we sell them -- whether it's apparel or whether it's hard goods, it's got to last and it's got to be something that they know, put on, and wear and bring eyeballs to the t-shirt or the polo shirt or whatever, whatever it might be. And so that is something that, is very important to us. And we've had a longstanding, I guess, somewhat tongue and cheek policy, that we will fire our employees, if they sell stress balls.

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You know, that that is the prototypical product that will end up in a landfill or eaten by the dog or, you know, in the trash or what have you. And so that piece of it really isn't going away for us. It might morph a bit. But I think the fact that folks are on a limited budget post- COVID or during COVID, it's something that's gonna stay with us, and we don't really have to pivot all that much on that. It's always been something that's important to us. I think the other thing that sticks with us is the fact that we're sort of seen as a challenger agency. So, what I mean by that is the discovery process that we go through with the client really isn't going to change, you know, pre-COVID, during COVID, or post-COVID. We're asking why during that discovery process, "why do you want stress balls?" "Why do you want, you know, the piece of plastic that might end up in the landfill?" And oftentimes where convincing the client, that what they've chosen really doesn't fit. It might be that that's what they ordered last time, or that might be what their, the person who was in the job before my order, that just wanted to do an easy reorder. And it's our job, we feel to challenge that customer and make sure that they're brave in their decision. We've got a sort of a secondary tagline and mark, “Be Brave.” And what we mean by that is to be brave in your choices. So I don't think that stuff is going to change all that much. We don't have to pivot a time when it comes to our core principles in terms of how we sell. But I think Danny is going to get into a few things where we actually have pivoted pretty remarkably to some good success. Marshall Atkinson It's more about unlocking the results that somebody is after, not necessarily how to “logofy” something. Danny Rosin Definitely. I mean, yeah, you said it nicely and succinctly. Yeah, that's great. I mean, there are other challenges though, too, on that note. You know, we believe that connection kind of like you were talking about earlier, Marshall. The connection to a lot of brands is much harder without a human to human relationship. It's really tough to embolden a relationship in person when you could conceivably kill someone through COVID, you know, it's a scary, freaking time for all of us. And so, we try to create solutions around that. So it's tripling down on the virtual world, you know, how do you create ways to enhance virtual engagement? I remember the first... was it happy hour, Zoom happy hours invited to, I was like, hell yeah! I made my drink, I got all excited, got my logo, drinkware. And then, within three weeks I had been invited to more freaking social happy hours. I just, I was tired of him. It got exhausting.

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So now it's an opportunity for us to triple down in that world. And, and when all these Zooms are happening at these meetings, like we're doing now around virtual engagement, how do

we connect with customers there? How do we help our customers? Connect with their customers and their employees?

And you got to just think about how do you do that before? How do you do it during, how do you do it after these events? And you can insert promotional products to get them to enjoy and be a part of the event, during the event for engagement, you can give away promotional products after the event, you can thank them for being a part of it. And it's the great connector and reminder of an experience or the brand, this thing that we sell, right? And that's one thing I think the other is realizing that home is the new domain. So creating products and services around that is something we've done a lot of. I think if we're honest also, budgets have been strained, not just for us, but for our clients. And so the real question, I think this is what Robert is talking a little bit about too: do we really have, and believe in the power of our medium? You know, are we confident enough that it can help staff be more productive? Do we really think promotional products and custom apparel can enhance the sales pipeline? Are we apologetic about what we're selling and focusing on price and we're not confident enough? And I think the idea here is to do great work and you'll have a better chance of getting a share of the budget or maybe even increasing the budget. If you're confident enough, then you're thinking about that ROI you mentioned. And then the last point is, that I think we're all thinking about right now, is that for most companies diversity is a real challenge. And so as people begin to vote with their dollars with companies who focus on corporate social responsibility, companies that have a diverse supply chain, a diverse employee base, how they take care of those people and offer sustainable products, you know, products that are meant to last, there's a real opportunity right there to step up and stand out and do the right thing. Marshall Atkinson I love it. That's great. That's great. All right, so let's wrap up with the last question and I think it's about the future, right? So, I think many people would hit that fast forward button to get to January if we could. I know I would. So how do you guys see things working toward the end of 2020, and then heading into 2021? What creative tools or thinking or planning are you guys doing right now? Between now and the end of the year and maybe Q1 of next year? Robert Fiveash Perfect. Perfect. So Marshall, we, I guess about three weeks ago, four weeks ago maybe? We had the idea of pulling in a moderator to talk to our sales team about what Brand Fuel 2.0 might look like.

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So we were concerned about the gap in sales and knew that this was not going to be quick. And we wanted to make sure that we could offer our sales team additional tools or products or services or ideas that would allow them to -- with our own individual market inside our business, try to help fill that gap. So, sales were 10 and they're 5 now, how do we get from 5 to 10? And so, we brought in a moderator who spent probably an hour and a half with the entire team. And each salesperson was asked to bring five new ideas to the meeting. It was a presumed meeting, and these were ideas that we might be able to monetize. And, it ranges from augmenting an existing department, or hiring a new graphic person, or enhancing kitting, or whatever it might be or something completely sort of off the rails and different. We got, I think, close to a hundred ideas and it really, really was a fascinating process and everybody took it seriously, which I think was very important to us. So we were happy about that. But, we went through that process, had people defend their top ideas, and probably tomorrow we will have little these things down to the top three ideas. And so essentially we took those hundred... Danny and I narrowed it down to five and then we had the team bet on the idea. So, you have to bet $20 bucks on your top one, $10 on the middle one, and $5 on your third- best one. That's sort of funny money and we've got that list now. And this is a list of that the team is invested in and they have a reason to be along with it. And so, the timing of that was really, really good. I'm really glad we did it. I'm really glad people took it seriously, but we're just in the process now of showing the team this week what those top ideas were. And so I think we -- timing-wise, understood that this was going to be serious. And I think we did a good job of pulling in the folks and making them feel vested in sort of the recovery process. I think some of the biggest things that we're looking at, in terms of the second half of the year: what does PPE look like? Danny mentioned it, you know, is that something that fades away? Is it something that, the big medical, hospital supply companies take over and we're left with the dregs? Is it something that becomes much more creative? With design and our hope is that it will become something that is part of our toolkit. And it's something that once the design factor -- that once that element is part of it, ends up being something that is a perfect fit for a company like us. So we're excited about that. The other thing that's kind of cool is the online store piece that's always been key for us is really now essential. Danny mentioned work from home and there has to be a way to get these kits and these 'thank you’s' to people working from home and the best way we have found for clients to do that is through kitting our fulfillment project through our online stores.

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And so that's a big piece of it as well. But again, the Brand Fuel 2.0 exercise, I think has set us on a path of discovery that we're going to see how it pans out for the next six months. Danny Rosin Yeah. Let me add to that real quick. Robert had mentioned, cause I think this is so spot on. He was talking about PPE and having it look pretty, it'd be more fashionable and functional. I think there's something there that may happen. And you know, you're starting to see this in certain cities, where it's becoming illegal not to wear it and use it right now. And, who knows what will happen, but maybe that there's a little bit of a longer tail around that, but I love what he said about the fashion side of it. I think there's going to be an erosion around just slapping a logo on a product. I think people who receive promotional products and custom apparel, I think they want the product, not the fat logo that's emblazoned on it. I mean, some brands, maybe you want that logo on there and it's sort of like the price you pay to get the freebie. But I think there should be a shift from big logo branding to focusing on great design and messaging, you know, beautiful design on a product with a small logo or URL. Maybe your logo in the label, or at the hip, or something is going to be much better received and probably used, which makes the end recipient happier. And I think that's what we're all looking for. And so I think there's that in my only other point about. Maybe I would add to Robert's great, you know, lists there of what's happening as we move into the future and promo and apparel. I mentioned it before. I think sustainability is going to be the new product safety. As an industry, I think PPAI did a phenomenal job focusing on that several years ago, but now I think it's all about sustainability. I think it's time to educate our clients about sustainable products in our space. As Robert said, no more “brandfill”. Would you rather buy a pen that lasts for a couple of months for 99 cents or a pen that lasts for years for $2? And I think there's a conversation around that. Do you want the t-shirt that's gonna get tossed once someone wears it the first time? Or, it's someone's favorite shirt and we can start to consider the lifetime value of products and the fact that someone will want to wear something that's maybe more expensive and lasts longer and has stronger impressions for the end recipient as well as the person who gave it away. I think there's some opportunity there. But wouldn’t it be cool if the suppliers sort of test products before they go to the marketplace and they put a lifetime value on them? You know, talk about a 'differentiator' for them. But also for us as salespeople, I think it could drive margins and increase the number of impressions for brands ultimately. So I think suppliers who are listening, think about the lifetime value of products.

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Marshall Atkinson I think it all comes down to perspective, Danny.

So, if a customer sees your corporation or your business or whatever, you guys have to be in alignment, it has to fit. So, is your customer the cheapest, absolute rock-bottom person in their whole market? Well, then you're giving away their freebie crap that you see everywhere. But if you're not that person, if you're a higher value corporation, then the products that they're using for promotion, I think have to fit. Where you are in your industry and it has to be in alignment with what you normally do. You can't just be the cheapest thing because you only have $1.50 to spend, and that doesn't make any sense. And I think it needs to be more in alignment with the end result of how that customer is ultimately going to perceive you. And that's where we should be heading. And, making sure that the values kind of built into whatever their product did -- apparel, whatever that we're trying to market Danny Rosin Well said. Marshall Atkinson So, hey. Thank you both so much for your time today. It was fantastic learning how you've charted new success for Brand Fuel. So if a listener wants to learn more about what you do or how you can deliver success to them. What is the best way to contact you? Danny Rosin robertfiveash.com.

Robert Fiveash dannyrosin.org. Danny Rosin Yeah...

No, just go to brandfuel.com . You'll find info@ and marketing@ and Robert and I are both on the front lines of sales and business development. We love talking to customers and seeing what the problems and challenges are. So when you go to our website, although it's big and beastly, we've got lots of employees and people working all over for us. We are the front line recipient of that info@ which is taxing, but awesome. But you'll find us and we're happy to chat with anybody who wants some input to help grow their business, or just wants to chat about, ways to improve this industry.

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Marshall Atkinson Awesome. Great. Any last-minute words or thoughts? Danny Rosin In behalf of both of us and Brand Fuel, thank you so much for the invitation to share. Marshall Atkinson Awesome. All right. Hey, thanks. And we will catch you guys next time.

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S1E2

SHELBY CRAIG

"The Clinic Your Website Can't Live Without"

Marshall Atkinson COVID-19 has shifted a lot more business online recently, and with great uncertainty ahead, you'll need to make sure people can find you online. On this episode of Success Stories, we'll help you get ahead of the competition, and make sure you're set up to drive new business to your website. Our guest, Shelby Craig, will be sharing his knowledge of what you'll need to get optimized and how it's helped his business. We'll be touching on web design, search engine optimization, and tools that you can use to bring out your best results. Shelby is a serial entrepreneur, marketing junkie, home chef, coffee connoisseur, and most importantly, girl dad times three. He's a t-shirt snob who was the founder of Rocket Shirts in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Rocket Shirts understands that most people are overwhelmed when ordering custom apparel for the first time. Shelby has created a simple and easy process to ensure customers get their branded apparel in days, and not weeks. Their average turnaround time of three to five days guarantees their customers can quickly “Get Shirt Done”, empowering the customer to do what they do best and let Rocket Shirts handle the rest. With that, welcome Shelby to Success Stories!

Listen to this Episode!

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Shelby Craig Well, thank you for having me, Marshall. I am looking forward to hanging out with you today. Marshall Atkinson So before we get started with a bunch of questions and stuff, why don't you just kind of talk about what you do there in Tennessee for your customers all the time. Shelby Craig Yeah, we “Get Shirt Done.” I mean, that is our tagline. That's what we kind of embrace. We saw, in this industry, the majority of people were taking two to three weeks to turn things around and we just found that that wasn't acceptable. And so we started out in DTG world and then we branched into screen printing and then embroidery. And last year we branched into promotional products. Not that you have to branch into that. We just had never touched it. So decided to do that. So, that is what we do. I mean, we do things efficiently, quickly, and that's kind of what has set us apart in a very crowded space in this area of central Tennessee. There's 12 screen printers in our city and we're a city of 180,000 people. So. it's pretty crazy to see that many screen printers, but we all have our own niche and we've capitalized on that and we all support each other too, which is great. And, so I like that. Marshall Atkinson Well, that's great. Who’s your market segment? Who are you targeting? Shelby Craig For us? We used to say until COVID-19, that we were primarily conferences, events, churches, and schools. And those have kind of all stopped. But, we really found our niche and our kind of foothold with making sure that we printed for conferences and do fulfillment for conferences as well -- that set us apart early on. We had agreements with a lot of conferences in his area that we would do a revenue split. So we kind of took the risk; we would print 10,000 shirts and we would say we would sell it. You get 40%, we get 60% of profit… instead of paying for booth space. They liked that. No risk, but great reward for them. So that's kind of where we started and also with churches and trade shows and things like that. This is really where we just kind of went gangbusters for and that's what we love. We can speak that language very easily. I come from a seminary background. I come from a church background. I was a student pastor for nine years. I was a lead pastor for six years. Those are my people. And it's not hard for me to sell to anyone in that market. That's where we started, and it was a lot of fun and then COVID took all those away. And so we have had to pivot in this time.

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Marshall Atkinson Yeah. And for those of you out there who heard “Get Shirt Done”, man, that's an awesome tagline. You have something to say to that, right? Shelby Craig That is ours! That is our trademark. Many people use it, but it is ours. And we took the time to make that happen. And we like using it in everything we do. We've got a new floor graphic that says let's “Get Shirt Done” right in the center of our floor. Everybody's laughing out as they walk in. Marshall Atkinson That’s good. That's good. All right. So let's get busy with our topics here. Are you ready? Shelby Craig Yeah. Marshall Atkinson Okay. For listeners out there that don't have a solid online strategy, what are the top few things that they need to investigate and get right? Shelby Craig Well, you asked me that question just before that… you said, what is your niche? And I think that for a solid online strategy, we don't think oftentimes that we need a niche, but we do. We need to understand who our customer is. I think it's more important that before we focus on what our online strategy, we first need to ask who our customer is. Who is going to buy our product? You know, I've talked this morning with you in regards to asking a question. Not, can we make the customer say yes…but can the customer make us say yes? Do they fit our profile? Do they fit our avatar of who we want to do business with? And that once you understand who your customer is and what your customer wants, then you can start communicating clearly on an online strategy. Anything before that is just noise. And so for us, we understand who our customer is. We understand what they want to buy. And then we also understand what problemwe have to solve for them to achieve what they want.

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When you understand those three things at the forefront, then you can guide them along the way to getting the results that they want. Whether that is for an event… would that be for a conference? Would that be for a school? A sports team? When you understand the problems they've had to overcome to get what they've been getting, whether that be long turnarounds, whether that is the right type of garment, whether that be designs that aren't stellar. Whatever that problem is… maybe it's just turnaround time. That seems to be a bottleneck in this industry of just getting it fast enough. You know, in this Amazon world of two days, you can get anything in two days. This Amazon world is expecting that in two days. And so when we say two, three, four weeks, I just talked to a customer that said, “ Oh, the last guy told me seven weeks ,” that's a problem. And we have to solve that. So when you understand that problem, then you can start guiding your customer online to you becoming a problem-solving business. When you asked what the things that we need to investigate and get right? Understand your customer, who they are, what they want, and the problem they have to overcome to achieve that, and then guide them in everything that you do with your social media posts. When you add one of the things, we will get to this in a little bit. So stopme if that's the case, but one of the most powerful things you can do for an online strategy is asking questions to your audience and almost segmenting them with those questions. And it doesn't have to be questions that are even pertinent to this industry, pertinent to t-shirts, or pertinent to promoware. It can be as easy as, “ Hey, what's your favorite thing to binge-watch on Netflix ?” And then you begin building an avatar of: "Wow! A lot of people on social media, like 'Stranger Things'." "A lot of people on social media like 'Friends!'” Well, that's an avatar. And then you start understanding who your audience is just a little bit more, and you can start segmenting those people and start selling towards those people, and to the things that they enjoy because people who like “Stranger Things” will not be the same people who probably like “Friends" or maybe they do. And so figuring out that niche and putting those together. So, we ask a lot of questions. Even in emails, when we send emails out, we'll ask a question so we can get a response and we can start a conversation. So, understanding your customer, understanding what they want, understanding what problem they have to solve to overcome them, and then painting that picture of success. And also painting that picture of failure, because if nothing's at stake for not doing business with you, they don't have to do business with you. They can go anywhere and get the service that you offer. Because there's nothing at stake for not doing business with you. And so you have to paint that picture of failure as well. And we think, well, should we talk about failure? Should we talk about the negatives?

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Should we talk about the “No’s?” And I'm not saying to be a Debbie Downer. What I'm saying is what's at stake by not doing business with you? And if there's nothing at stake, then why should they do business with you? For us, at Rocket Shirts again, for the turnaround time, what’s the failure of not doing business with us? Well, you're going to take weeks to get your shirts. It may not be right. It may be printed incorrectly. You may miss your event. You may miss your deadline -- and life's too short to miss your deadline. There's too much at stake. Your attendees deserve a better experience. Your attendees deserve things. And now we're talking about empathy by using the words, it's a philosophical problem that we're overcoming. They deserve a better experience. They ought to not feel the way they feel being overwhelmed and ordering shirts. Do you have an event to plan? Let us take care of the rest. So that's some things I think you need to investigate, and that goes into this kind of the whole idea of StoryBrand right? And that's what I live, and breathe, and drink, and eat, and understanding that. Marshall Atkinson StoryBrand, by the way, is the book by Donald Miller in case you’ve never read that. Shelby Craig That's correct. Yeah. Donald Miller, the Don as I call him. No. He wrote a book and it's nothing new, everything in that book was written 2,500 years ago by Aristotle and poetics. I mean it is the elements of the story. I watched a movie last night and my wife's like, who's this person? And I was like, "Oh, this is the guy that's being introduced. And let me tell you how it's going to end". And she's like, "no, you are ruining movies for me!". I've ruined more movies for her than I've helped because I know exactly what's going to happen within the first 30 minutes. StoryBrand by Donald Miller and I’ve been a StoryBrand certified guide, for a while and it's what I live and breathe. Everything that we do goes through that lens. Marshall Atkinson And how this is relevant here… especially if we're talking websites, we're talking customers -- it's all about clarity, right?

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Shelby Craig Yeah. Yeah. No one wants to know that you started your business in 1975.

You know, I do a lot of website audits for screen printers. People ask me, can you just look at my website? And, you know, I'd looked at one a few weeks ago and it was a picture of their building. It was a nice building. It was beautiful. And it was there in their header and it says started in 1975, tomeet the customprinted needs of our community. But all I saw was the building. I thought they were a real estate company? Like, are they are commercial real estate companies? What is this? And no one cares about your story. StoryBrand is all about helping you understand that you're not the hero of your story; your customer's the hero. And you're just the guide. And I think that is -- you know, one of the things we did the “Here For Good” campaign in March, April, and May and are still doing it. We're landing that plane, coming up soon. And I think one of the beautiful things of why that campaign was so successful nationwide is because for the first time a screen printer was not the hero. They were the guide and the customer was the hero to these small businesses that we were helping. And it was a beautiful picture to watch happen. We were the guide. We were the person that gave an avenue, a platform, to be able to make the customer, the person who wants to patronize the business that they love. We were the guide that allows that person to be a hero with a $20 t-shirt to help a small business, stay alive and thrive. That's StoryBrand. And when you look at your website, within the first five seconds, does your person know who you are? Does your customer know who you are, what you do, and what problem you solve? And if they can't solve those, if they can't pass what we call the grunt test since the rebrand, if it can't pass the grunt test, if it can't answer those three questions within five seconds? Then you failed because it's too confusing. Oftentimes we have a lot of things in the right-hand corner, top right-hand corner of our website… about us… contact us. No one cares about you. I would be. That sounds horrible. But I wouldmention saying that there are not many people that click the “About Us.” We always say have a very clear call to action. And the top right-hand corner, we look up in the top left-hand corner of who you are, and we need to look in the top right-hand corner to know what we do.

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And so, what we call the call to action -- call them out. Because if you're not telling your customers where to go, they have no idea where to go. And if it's the “Contact Us”, what does that mean? I don't want to contact you. I just wanna get an answer to my problem. I'm going to get a solution to my problem. And so for us, we've cleaned up our website. It's almost a one-pager and people think we're crazy, but we average 650 to 700 quote requests a month. And we've converted about 80% of those because it's very clear what you're to do. There's only one button to push on our entire website and that is to get a quote and everything else falls into what we call the junk drawer to the very bottom of your website. Everything. The “About Us”, the “Contact Us”, that's your story, what services you offer, all of that needs to go on the bottom of your website. That's what we call the junk drawer. Everybody's got a junk drawer in their house. We open it up. That's where everything is and we know it's there. We know it's there. We know what's in it. If I need to know where my toenail clippers are, it's in the junk drawer -- we go to that drawer. And so we need to pull that drawer. That's where everything else kind of sits. But if I need to know where the milk is or where those things are, it's very clear that is that's in the fridge. That's where I need to go. Likewise, with our website, we have a very clear call to action. I'm a direct call to action, whatever that is for you. If it's calling you, if it's getting a quote, if it's submitting artwork, whatever that looks like for you, and your industry, and your business, and whatever you offer, it needs to be clear. And likewise, we need to have a transitional call to action. Something that gets them if they're not ready to commit. I talk about the call to action being the “will you marry me?” aspect of our website. If you asked a woman at a cocktail party, will you marry me? She probably will say no 80% of the time, maybe not, but- Marshall Atkinson …unless it was a really swingin' party! Shelby Craig It depends on the party, but you know, always listen… here let me go back. When you look at your website, think about it as that cocktail party. You would never go up to someone at a cocktail party. Now, I wish that this is not an audio recording. If you could see me, you could see this, but imagine you’re standing in a bar and a girl comes up and you look at her and you go, “Let's get started!” You're probably not going to go very far with her. Or you look at her and you kind of brush yourself and say, “Would you like to learn more?”

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But those are two calls to action that we do on websites all the time! We say, “Get Started” or “Learn More.”

I don't know, what's on the other side of those and it's required a commitment of me that I'm unsure if I want to make, but if we're clear and concise, then we know exactly what happens. I spoke at a Chamber of Commerce event here in town, and we talked about marketing, we talked about websites, and one of the things that I did in the very beginning is that no one knewwho I was. I was some young kid for all their sake because they're all old money people in this area learning about their websites. And I went onstage to introduce me. I get up on stage and I said, "Hi, I'm glad you guys are here, thanks for coming. My name is Shelby Craig, and I want you to do one thing for me. I want you to stand up, turn around, and I want you to walk out this back door and meet me on the steps at the corner. And so I mobilized 50 people, very quickly. And everyone's turned around, walked outside. Once in a street corner and I've got on the street corner. I said I want to tell you something very important.

People will always go where you tell them to go. Now let's turn around and go back into the room." And everybody was mad. It was cold. January. Everybody was mad, but then they realize what I was doing.

We all went back into the room and I helped them understand that when we go to our website if we're not telling them exactly what to do, they'll never have a call to action. They'll never do anything. And I had mobilized 50 people only because I had authority, which as a screen printer, as a decorator, as an apparel decorator, we have authority already because someone's coming to you because they don't know how to do what you do and you're the expert. So we already have that authority. And as an authority piece, we tell them what to do, “Get a Quote”, or “Give Us Your Artwork” or “Call Us Now”. Those are three things that we can do very quickly to be able to get the process started. Likewise, at that event? I mobilized 50 people only because I was very clear on what I told them to do. Go walk, turn around, walk out this door, down the steps, and meet me on the street corner. I have something important to tell you, and I mobilized 50 people that didn't have a clue who I was. We've got to do that. We have 50 people a day going to our website, and we've got to tell them exactly where we want them to go. To get them to the place that they need to go to have that picture of success. Marshall Atkinson That's fantastic. And what I like about that, and this comes from Donald Miller's book is “If you confuse, you lose.” So you make it so simple just by having one button. "click here, get a quote", right?

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